ITHACA, N.Y. -- During the Thanksgiving holiday season from Nov. 18 to Dec. 1, Cornell University Police will join police agencies throughout New York state in a wave of "zero tolerance" enforcement of the seat belt laws.

"Many students will be driving home for the Thanksgiving holiday, and we want to help ensure a safe trip home and back for them," said Sgt. Charles Howard, coordinator of traffic enforcement activities for Cornell Police.

Howard said checkpoints and saturation patrols will be aimed at ticketing drivers and front-seat passengers not wearing seat belts and drivers who fail to properly restrain their child passengers.

"This Thanksgiving seat belt enforcement push will continue to place a special emphasis on teens and young adults, as these drivers are the least likely to buckle up," Howard said, adding the Cornell Police conducts these waves because research shows that repeating waves of high-visibility enforcement saves lives.

In the year 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that drivers under the age of 25 had the highest rate of involvement in fatal motor vehicle crashes. Of all passenger car occupants involved in fatal crashes, 41 percent were not wearing seat belts. In fatal crashes, 22 percent of unrestrained occupants were totally ejected from their vehicles, compared with only 1 percent of those wearing seat belts.

Cornell's "Buckle Up" enforcement effort is aided by a grant from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles-Governor's Traffic Safety Committee.